Everyone. The entire premise is the work related “SAFETY FIRST” mentality. As the video’s point out, almost all work related accidents could have been/ could be prevented if the people involved took the time and effort to ensure that what they were doing adhered to certain basic safety protocols.

Good freaking Lord! I must have missed the first post because looking that one up….geez!

What the hell are people thinking with this on normal TV? So they want to censor stuff like this more and more for fear kids get desensitized and go on rampages but it’s perfectly alright for them to show them? Please.

Oh and Allah, Bryan you’re getting me in trouble with my wife. I keep bringing topics up from here to tell her and she’s been finding them too pessimistic or plain morbid. We need some positives here or my wife will try to ban Hot Air for fear of my mental health. :)

Hmmm, having spent many years (actually most of my life)working in hazardous dangerous environments I must admit to having a considerable trouble grasping the way most of you are reacting to these videos.

The first time you see one of your co-workers cut their arm off or get killed on the job because of an accident that both could have and should have been prevented these videos will stop being gross disturbing or funny and take on an entirely different perspective.

Yes I have seen many people injured on the job, I’ve even seen a couple of people killed on the job. I don’t think these videos are disturbing or funny. In my experience the message behind these videos is (pardon the pun) dead on.

I think this just goes to show us that there are a lot of things we can learn from our favorite neighbor. For another thing, did you know the age of consent north of the border is 14? Ooooooo, Caaaaaaana-daaaaaa…

There’s more of these too, and I’ve also noticed a couple of Domestic Abuse ads in the same vein from Canada.

I agree wholeheartedly with doriangrey. On the other hand, they make me laugh just because of the way most of the victims address the issue with such unaffected candor while having been brutally injured.

They should have used the same woman from the grease accident; it’s a year later, her hideous burns are still healing, she’s trying out a new career path, the rescheduled wedding is finally happening this Saturday, and…BOOM!

As have I, I have worked in industrial/construction enviroments for almost 40 years now. Yes I have seen death and dismemberment, add to that 10+ years as a volunteer EMT and all the war stories that go along with it.

I have found, especially in EMS, that seeing humor in situations is a self defense mechanism that automatically kicks in sometimes. You never heard more vile and off color humor in your life than what we heard in debriefs sometimes. They were very caring people, they just have to lighten the mood after a critical incident.

When I look at these videos, I admit, they do illicit a chuckle. But then again, nobody really got hurt here huh?

I checked out the youth website youngworker.ca, accessed through website at the end of the commercial. It had a message stating outright that it contained graphic scenes and wasn’t for children under 14.

The ‘Day in the Life’ area has 7 scenes of young teen Scott trying to get through the day with a bleeding stump where his hand used to be. ‘Eye Candy’ shows Scott losing his hand grinding meat; I knew someone that lost a few fingers in the same way. This is currently my favourite Canadian government website.

yes, there are quite a few of these ads on TV up here… the WSIB is trying it’s annual promote safety campaign, which each year has been getting more and more in your face.
Their objective although not a bad one in theory, has proven once again, why the government shouldn’t be in the insurance business. Some how, despite laboring mightely to reduce the amount of claims each year, they still never manage to reduce the amount they collect, nor the amount they spend.

I think the worst accident that I’ve seen in the workplace was the pressman got a papercut in the webbing of his left hand… cut up everything and went right to the bone…

Dorian…I think it should also be noted that videos such as these are also often times only showed to those who actually work in the fields addressed by the video. I mean even back in the day when I worked as a bagger at Vons we dealt with these things. My reaction itself comes from the idea that these are shown without any real warning on TV. Say you’re a construction worker and you have a 5 year old kid. He sees this ad and it’s burned into his mind that this could happen to daddy. You want to spend the nights awake reassuring the kid that daddy will be alright? Will you be happy this just showed up on your TV one night with no warning?

I have found, especially in EMS, that seeing humor in situations is a self defense mechanism that automatically kicks in sometimes. You never heard more vile and off color humor in your life than what we heard in debriefs sometimes. They were very caring people, they just have to lighten the mood after a critical incident.

When I look at these videos, I admit, they do illicit a chuckle. But then again, nobody really got hurt here huh?

conservnut on December 4, 2007 at 12:35 PM

I do know what you mean about the humor as a defense mechanism and yea I have seen and participated in it. However to me there just seems to be a difference. In a tragic situation the humor helps keep the morbid sense of despair at bay that so often accompanies serious or tragic accidents or events.

There is none of that shock or stress here in this thread because no actual event has taken place, so the morbid humor just seems a bit out of place.

Ummmm….I think the accident was hiring a guy who wields a cutting torch abound like an idiot while talking to the camera.

I think it’s safe to assume the guy is an Ironworker since no man on a high rise could touch a cutting torch otherwise, and since he seems to know the protocol for the inspection and maintenance of “bottled gas” vessels one would think he would be smart enough to not climb into a “broken” safety harness.

And why is that it’s the “black guy” who always gets blown off a building under construction in an unfortunate metal working “accident”? Why not a white guy?

Dorian…I think it should also be noted that videos such as these are also often times only showed to those who actually work in the fields addressed by the video. I mean even back in the day when I worked as a bagger at Vons we dealt with these things. My reaction itself comes from the idea that these are shown without any real warning on TV. Say you’re a construction worker and you have a 5 year old kid. He sees this ad and it’s burned into his mind that this could happen to daddy. You want to spend the nights awake reassuring the kid that daddy will be alright? Will you be happy this just showed up on your TV one night with no warning?

CTDeLude on December 4, 2007 at 12:53 PM

Personally I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I don’t live in a world where everybody marries the prom queen and lives happily ever after and nothing bad ever happens to anyone. I had to watch as my youngest brother explained to his children (one 4 and the other 5 years old)last year why their uncle wasn’t going to be able to play with them anymore.

One of my brothers died of brain cancer last year, in my youngest brothers house. He had to explain that to his children, and he, like any good responsible parent tackled it head on and did so without scaring his children or scaring them.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I think honesty is the best policy, you cant shield your children from reality forever, but you cant help them face it without scaring the [email protected] out of them or scaring them for life.

I wonder how much actual safety equipment and actual safety training could have been funded by the money that went to making these wonderfully entertaining little death porn short flicks?

Somebody should make that commercial:

“Hi! In a second I’ll plummet to my death from this skyscraper. We’d initially had nationalized funding (hey, we’re Canadian!) to overhaul all our safety equipment, but the government decided to re-allocate the funds to make some wicked cool commercials. So I’ll be dead in a second here … but don’t miss those spots. They’re entertainment gold, baby!”

These ads are designed to affect people who think about and internalize what they see in PSA ads. People who are thoughtful, and willing to change their attitudes and actions based on this information. People who are “self-aware” in a real sense realizing who they are, what they do, and how they can be better. People who won’t simply ignore this, or think it’s referring to someone else, or that it can’t happen to them.

So, basically, nobody. We’ve got the wrong kind of people for this to work.

It’s been slightly over a year but I still need a little of that humor to get over loosing my brother.

doriangrey on December 4, 2007 at 1:55 PM

Am so sorry about your brother.

About the laughing? Shock is a part I think. Personally, didn’t laugh at the first one since it looked so real (still wanna know how they filmed that “slip and fall”). That was upsetting and I still can’t forget it.

This one? The same UNTIL the crash dummy fell off the roof and bounced off the truck. Yes I laughed – because it looked so fake.

And THAT’s why I LMBO at this:

Sweet. Though it would have been better had he bounced off the windshield and into some sort of industrial grinder with a faulty emergency shutoff.
saint kansas on December 4, 2007 at 12:01 PM

About the laughing? Shock is a part I think. Personally, didn’t laugh at the first one since it looked so real (still wanna know how they filmed that “slip and fall”). That was upsetting and I still can’t forget it.

Really? It doesn’t look that complicated to me: the liquid in the pot isn’t scalding hot; it’s probably room temperature or a little cool. Any old stuntman could take that slip.

Maybe they should do a PSA of a baby inside the womb, talking about their upcoming birthday, just before the abortion doctor sucks their brains out with his handy Hoover vac.

These vids don’t phase me in the least. Perhaps because I’ve seen so many on Liveleak, NothingToxic and other sites that are not only real but even more graphic. I will tell you that many of them I stop if I think they are going to be really bad.

and no I won’t paste any of those links here.

These are just drama.

I remember when Resevoir Dogs came out in theatres. People were sick (some literally) and many would hollar and leave the place. I thought, “Dude, its not real.”

“If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you’ll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy.” – Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey (C 1991, SNL)